Electric clock-controlled switch mechanism



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1. R. W. ROLLINS.

ELECTRIC CLOCK CONTROLLED SWITCH MECHANISM.

N0.-605,915. Patented June 21,2298.

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R.ROLL1NS. ELECTRIC CLOCK CONTROLLED SWITCH MECHANISM.

No 605,915. Patented June 21,1898.

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ROBERT w. ROLLINS, or HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

ELECTRIC CLOCK CONTROLLED SWITCH MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part oi Letters Patent No. 605,915, dated June 21, 1898.

Application filed September 27, 1897. Serial No. 653,184. (No model.)

To (0 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT WV. RoLLINs, a citizen of the United States, residing in Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Clock-Controlled Switch Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electric clock-controlled switch mechanism adapted for automatically making or breaking an electric circuit at a predetermined time, and more particularly it relates to clock-controlled switch mechanism of that class adapted for automatically making and breaking; an electric circuit at predetermined hours of the day or night for the purpose of turning the current onto or shutting it off from the mains of a city-light circuit or power-circuit.

One of the principal features of my invention is the employment of a clock for this purpose in which two circuit-controllers which are adjustable separately relatively to each other and connected to one side of the circuit in such a manner as to control, respectively, the making and breaking of the latter cooperate with a third circuit-controller connected with the other side of the circuit and are shiftable for adjustment in suitable slots in indicating means for showing the time at which the circuit should be made and broken, at least one of thesecircuit-controllers being rotated by suitable actuating means or clockwork in such a manner that the indicator or dial and the adjustable circuit-controllers will move in unison after the proper adjustments of the circuitcontrolling members have been effected.

In order that my improved clock-controlled switch mechanism may be employed in connection -with two circuits to regulate the makin g and breaking of the same independently, I may also employ a switch mechanism of duplex construction, the two circuit-controlling mechanisms thereof beingindependently regulable in such a manner that a city-light circuit may be opened and closed independently of the making and breaking of another circuit, such as a power-circuit or multiple in closed long-burning eighty-volt arc-light circuit.

My improved switch mechanism may also embody as an essential feature thereof a pair of relays the circuits of which will be made and broken by the action of the clock-regul'ated circuit-controllers, while the armatures of the relays may cooperate and preferably be capable of interlocking at their free ends to close the main circuit, they being, of course, releasable on the breaking of such circuit.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specificatiomFigure 1 is a front elevation of a clock-controlled switch mechanism,illustratin g the preferred embodiment of my invention. Fig. 2 is a broken edge view of the same, illustrating such a switch mechanism of duplex construction. Fig. 3 'is a front or side view of the rotary indicating-dial of the clock-controlled switch mechanism shown in Fig. 1. Fig. at is a similar view of a conducting circuit-controlling cam, which will be described in detail hereinafter. Fig. 5 is a similar View of a corresponding insulating-cam. Fig. 6 illustrates, partly in diagram and partly in elevation, a clock-controlled switch mechanism connected in parallel of the main of a street-circuit, illustrating a branch circuit closed; and Fig. 7 is a similar view showing such branch circuit open.

Similar characters designate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, 0 designates a case or support of suitable c011- struction upon and within which the driving means or clockwork (not shown in detail) and the several parts of the switch mechanism controlled by the clockwork may be carried.

The front of this case is closed, substantially in the usual manner, by aface-plate, such as 2, which may have thereon time-indications corresponding to the twenty-four hours of the day.

The clockwork or driving means for operating one or more of the circuit-controlling devices may be of any suitable type, having the usual arbor 3, on which, in these views, the indicating means or indicating-dial is mounted, so as to rotate in unison with said arbor. This dial is indicated by 4 and may have therein a slot 5, in the form of a pointer or hand, which will point toward the indications on the face-plate 2 to show the time of day and setting at which the circuit should be made or broken. This dial is slotted, in the present instance, for the purpose of adjusting one or more circuit-controlling members and in the preferred construction has two curved slots, such as (3 and 7, disposed in concentric arcs the centers of which are in the axis of rotation of the arbor 3. Adjacent to each of these slots is a scale or index by means of which the adjustments of those members of the switch mechanism which control the set ting of the parts for different hours of the day may be effected. These two scales or time indicating devices are designated herein by S and 9, respectively.

In the construction illustrated in Figs. 1. to 5 a fixed contact-arm, preferably in the form of a yielding circuit controller or contact member, such as 10, is intended to make sliding contact with a pair of cooperating circuitcontrollers carried for movement in unison with the dial l. These last-mentioned circult-controllers are preferably in the form of cams having peripheral cam-faces eccentric to the axis of rotation of the dial 4, said circuit-controlling cams being designated herein by c and t'. The former of these cams may be made of conducting material, while the latter will be, preferably, of insulating material throughout. As to the general :form thereof they are substantially similar in construction. The cam-faces of these two circnit-controllers are designated, respectively, by 12 and 13, the extreme end 14: of the rise of the cam-face 12 being at the same distance from the center of movement of the cam c as the corresponding point 15 of the cam-face of the insulating-cam i is from its center of movement. That part of the periphery of the insulating circuit-controller i which is designated by 17 and is concentric with the center of movement thereof is struck from a longer radius than the corresponding concentric face 16 of the conducting circuit-controller c.

The cireuit-controlling members 0 and i may be secured to the dial t in any suitable manner, so as to move in unison therewith, while being capable of adjustment thereon with respect to the dial and independently with respect to each other. In this case studs or rivets, such as 18 and 19, may work in the slots (3 and 7 and pass through perforations 20 and 21 in the members 0 and i and be secured thereto.

Of course the circuit-controlling members 0 and i should turn freely with respect to the dial for the purpose of adjustment, and in the construction shown they have openings 22 and 23, through which the arbor 3 maybe passed to permit the cams to turn on such arbor.

It will be obvious by referring to Fig. 1 that the insulating-disk '1- maybe adjusted to cause the making of the circuit at any time between live oeloek p. m. and eight o clock p.111. by manipulating the stud 1.) in the opening 7 of the dial 1 while the cam 0 may be adjusted by the stud working in the slot (3 to break the circuit at any time between four oclock a. m. and seven oclock a. m. -tr'hile this range of adjustment is sui'iicient for all practical purposes, yet by making the slots (5 and 7 of the proper lengths any desired range of adjustment may be secured.

It being understood that the dial will be rotated continuously by the clockwork (not shown) within the case 0 or step by step in any suitable manner it willbe clear that the contact-arm 10 will ride on the face of the insulating-cam 2'- until it reaches the point 15, when it will be released and make the circuit, with the conducting-cam c, at the proper time, determined by the adjustment of the cam i.

As shown in Fig. 1, a circuit is made when the hand 5 points to S p. m. on the face plate 2, and the contact-arm 10 will of course ride off from the point or top 11 of the camface 12 of the conducting-cam c and break the circuit at four a. m., as shown by the adjustment of the cam c.

The contact-arn1 10 and the arbor should of course be connected to opposite sides of the circuit, conductors and 2t being shown herein secured to the usual binding-posts 27 and 28 on the case C.

In Fig. 2 I have illustrated a clock-com trolled switch mechanism of d uplex construction adapted for controlling two circuits, and as all of the parts at the rigl l t-han d sid e thereof are duplicates of the corresp mding parts shown at the left-hand side thereof, and also shown in Fig. ].,a detailed description of these duplicate parts will be unnecessary, primemarks being employed to desigintte those correspondii'ig parts of the switch mechanism shown at the right in Fig. 2, which are not referred to more particularly herein.

Obviously the cireuit-controlling mechanisms thereof should be capable of regulation iinle iieiulently, as they control. different eircuits, and this regulation will of course be obtained by the indepeiulent adjustments oi.

the respective conducting and insulating cams at opposite sides of the clock. Of course after adjustment thereof all. of the cams and the two dials will rotate in unison, owing to the fact that they are carried by the same arbor 3 from which one set is insulated.

The construction shown in Fig. 2 is intended more particularly for use in connection with a three-wire system, in which either of the outside mains maybe connected in a circuit with the neutral.conductor and employed in the usual manner or, if desired, as atwowire system when the other e u L-side conductor is cut out.

In Figs. 6 and 7 l have illustrated a modification of the invention in which the cen tact-arm 10 is rotatable with a dial 1 and makes and breaks the branch circuit (hereinbefore referred to) at the proper time by contact with a pair of cireuit-controllers or conlJZLClJiLl'lilS c and ii, correspondin to the cir cnit-controlling cams c and 't'. The arm i controls the closing of the circuit, while the arm 0 governs the breaking thereof, and both of these circuit-controllers are adjustablein substantially the same manner as the cams c and t to determine the time at which the circuit is to be opened and closed. In this case the face-plate of the clock, which is designated by 2", has a circuit of indications surrounding the dial 4 in the same manner as in Fig. 1; but the indicator or indicating means governing the adjustments of the two adjustable circuit-controllers is not the same as in Fig. 1. Instead the indicating-scales 8 and 9 are on the fixed face-plate 2", and the slots 6 and 7 for determining the adjustments of the adjustable circuit-controllers are also formed in said face-plate adjacent to the scales 8 and 0 and are disposed in concentric arcs.

The two adjustable circuit-controllers or contact-arms c and t' are shiftable from one end to the other of their respective slots 6 and 7 and may be secured in place at any desired point in said slots in any suitable manner, as by means of binding-screws, they being insulated from the case.

In connection with the adjustable circuitcontrollers c" and 2' I have illustrated a pair of relays, (designated herein by r and r,) the coils of the electromagnet of the relay 1* being connected, as by means of the conductor 30, with the circuit-controller a, while the electromagnet of the relay r is similarly connected, as by a conductor 30, with the circuitcontroller 2'. The electromagnets of the two relays are connected by conductors 31 and 31 with the same side of the main circuit or lightcircuit, the mains of which are designated by m and m. The rotary contact member 10 may be connected with the other side of the lighting-main in any suitable manner, as by means of the conductor 32, secured to the arbor 3, on which the dial 4t is mounted. These two relays are alternately energized periodically and are intended to operate alternately to make and break a third circuit, which, as well as the two circuits of the relays, may be in parallel of the mains m and m. In the present instance one side of this third or branch circuit is interrupted and the ends of the conductors connected to the armatures 35 and 35, respectively, of the relays, the arma- 35 being connected to the conductor 36, while the armature 35 is connected with the conductor 36, the conductor 36 of course being connected to one of the mains, as m, while the conductor 37, forming the other side of the third branch circuit, is connected with the main m.

A motor, such as M, or any other suitable translating device or devices may be connected in circuit with conductors 36 and 37-.

The armatures 35 and 35 are limited in their movements in both directions by suitable stops, such as are shown at 38 and 38 and 39 and 3S)", and cooperate with each other to make and break the. third branch circuit just described. Preferably the armature 35 has at the end thereof a detent or catch, such member 10" engaging the circuit-controller t' the armature 35' will be attracted and will pass by the endof the spring-pressed armature 35 and be latched by the catch 40 of the latter, this catch serving to maintain the third branch circuit closed after the member 10 passes 'by the circuit controlling arm t'. Vhen the contact member 10 reaches the circuit-controller c and makes contact therewith, the electromagnet of the relay 0" will of course be energized and, attracting its armature, will release the spring-pressed armature 35 of the relay 1" and break the third branch circuit.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. In an electric, clockcontrolled switch mechanism, the combination, with an electric circuit, of a clock controlling said circuit and embodying three cooperative circuit-controllers two of which are separately adjustable relatively to each other and are connected with one side of the circuit and .control, respectively the making and the breaking of the latter, and the other of which is connected with the other side of the circuit, indicating means having a pair of slots for receiving, and controlling the adjustments of, the adjustable circuit-controllers, and means for rotating at least one of the circuit-controllers.

2. In an electric, clock-controlled switch mechanism, the combination, with an electric circuit, of a clock controlling said circuit and embodying three cooperative circuit-controllers two of which are separately adjustable relatively to each other and are connected with one side of the circuit and control,respectively, the making and the breaking of the latter and the other of which is connected with the other side of the circuit, indicating means having a pair of slots disposed in concentric arcs and V adaptedfor receiving, and controlling the adjustments of, the adjustable circuit-controllers, and means for rotating at least one of the circuit-controllers.

3. In an electric, clock-controlled switch mechanism, the combination, with an electric circuit, of a clock controlling said circuit and circuit, of a clock controlling said circuit and embodyinga rotaryindicating-dial, an adj ust able circuiteontroller connected with one side of the circuit and movable in unison with said dial, a contact-arm in. the path of said circuiteontroller and connected with the other side of said circuit, and means for rotating the dial.

5. In an electric, clockcontrolled switch mechanism, the combination, with an electric circuit, of a clock controlling said circuit and embodying a rotary slotted indicatin g-dial, an adjustable circuit-controller connected with one side of the circuit and movable in unison with said dial and adjustable with respect to said slot, a coniactarm in the path of said circuitcontroller and connected with the other side of said circuit, and means for retating the dial.

(3. In an electric clock-controlled switch mechanism, the combination, with an electric circuit, of a clock controlling said circuit and embodying a rotaryiinlicating-dial; a pair of cooperatin g circuit-controlling elements connected with opposite sides of the circuit, one of said elements embodying a pair of members adjustable relatively to each other and each having a long gradually-rising circuitcontrolling cam-face defined by a curve eccentric to the axis of said dial, and the other of said circuit-controlling elements having a contact-face spanning the cam-faces of both members of the other circuit-controlling element; and means for rotating the dial and one of said circuit-controlling elements in unison.

7. I11 an electric clock-controlling switch mechanism, the combination, with an electric circuit, of a clock controlling said circuit and embodying a rotary indicating-dial; a pair of circuit-controlling cams adjustable relatively to each other and connected with one side of the circuit and movable in unison with the dial, and each having a long gradually-rising circuit controlling cam face defined by a curve eccentric to the axis of rotation of the dial; a contact-arm having a contact-face spanning the cam-faces of both of said cams, and connected with the other side of the circuit; and means for rotating the dial.

8. In an electric, clock-controlled switch mechanism, the combination, with an electric circuit, of a clock controlling said circuit and embodyinga rotary indicating-dial, a pair of adjustable circnit-controlling cams movable in unison with the dial and having cam-faces eccentric to the axis of rotation of the dial, one of said circuit-controllers being connected with one side of the circuit, a contact-arm cooperative with said circuit-controlling cams and connected with the other side of the circuit, and means for rotating the dial.

9. In an electric, clock-controlled switch cor-5,915

mechanism, the combination, with an electric circuit, of a clock controlling said circuitand embodying a rotary indicating-dial, a circuitcontrolling conducting-cam movable in uni son with the dial and having a peripheral cam-face eccentric to the axis of rotation of the dial and connected with one side of the circuit, an insulating-cam also movable .in unison with the dial and adjustable indopend ently of the comlucting-cam and having a peripheral canrface eccentric to the axis ol. rotation of the dial, a contact-arm cooperative With the cam-faces of said cams, and means for rotating the dial.

10. In an electric, clock-controlled switch mechanism, the combination, with an electric circuit, of a clock controlling said circuit and embodying three cooperative circuitcontrollers at least one of which is rotatable and one of which circuit-controllers is connected with one side of the circuit, and a pair of relays connect-ed with two of said circuit'controllers and with the other side of the circuit and in parallel of said circuit and having coacting pivoted armatures interlocking at their free ends and controlling a third circuit.

11. In an electric, clock controlled switch mechanism, the combination, with an electric circuit, of a clock controlling said circuit and embodying three cooperative circuit-controt lers at least one of which is rotatable and one of which circuit-controllers is connected with one side of the circuit, and a pair of alternately-energized relays connected with two of said circnit-controllers and with the other side oi the circuit and in parallel of said circuit and having ccacting interlocking armatures controlling a third circuit.

12. In an electric, clock-controlled switch mechanism, the combination, with an electric circuit, of a clock controlling said circuitand embodying three cooperative circuit-controllers at least one of which is rotatable and one of which cireuit-controllers is connected with one side oi"; the circuit, and a pair of relays connected with two of said CllCUlt-OOillllOllOlS and with the other side of the circuit and in parallel of said circuit and having coacting pivoted armatures interlocking at their free ends and controlling a third parallel branch of the main circuit.

13. In an electric, cloclccontrollcd switch mechanism, the combination, with a pair ol. electric circuits, of a- Block controlling said circuits and embodying a driving-arbor and two independently-regulable circuit-control.- ling mechanisms mounted on said. arbor and insulated from each other, one for each of said circuits.

ROBERT lV. ROLLINS.

Vl itnesscs:

h. N. Ginsu, J. L. Eben-inns, .lr. 

